I love it when a company provides a free service and people feel that they are somehow entitled to that service. The saw at Home Depot, Lowe’s and anywhere exists simply to rough cut materials for transport. If someone tells you it’s unsafe to make a cut, then you don’t go looking for a manager to break the rules because you’re special. Certainly as a contractor you have a truck and a circular saw. If you’re doing a lot of countertops, then a track saw would be a worthwhile investment. Festool makes a really nice one but DeWalt and Makita offer them too.

Yes, the person that said they could not cut it for you was correct, at my store we actually don't cut less than 12 inches; there is a policy in place as we are told during training and or employee orientation, it's a matter of safety. The reason for this is the panel saw blade doesn't have enough support to hold the small piece and that the small piece could fall into the blade.